Neighborhood Covenant but no active board or HOA

[mrandmrswingo]

My husband and I recently bought some chicks! We live out of city limits and looked into the regulations our county has put up for raising backyard chickens. We're in the process of building a coop and just realized we have a covenant for our neighborhood. We've lived here almost 2 years and have never been informed of one. There is no HOA, no board, we do not pay dues. We've asked a few of our neighbors and no one has any idea about it.

We do have dogs and got a rude letter in our mailbox once stating that our covenant says our animals are to not make an unreasonable amount of noise. We're a little afraid that they will complain about our chickens.

Without a board or HOA are they able to do anything? Should we just continue as is with our chickens? We would be so sad to get rid of them.

Any tips and advice would be appreciated.

 

[azelgin]

With my limited experience of reluctantly being elected to be president, of a newly formed HOA (long story), my first response is that there is no association to enforce the CC&Rs.
The county doesn't have a dog in your fight and won't likely pick a side. Without an HOA, with funds available to take legal action and officers to carry out the duties, it's pretty much dead.
I have a "subdivision" bordering my current residence, that was created in 1964. None of the CC&Rs have been enforced, for the last 30 years.
I once knew of a property owner, that was in violation of a very small cities' zoning laws. He informed the city, in a vague way, that he was willing to spend whatever it would take, to make sure this very small town's legal fund was depleted, before giving up. The zoning ordnance was changed, to avoid the legal battle.
Go ahead with your chickens. It will be years, before anyone gets organized enough to put together all the parts needed to enforce the covenants.

edit: the CC&Rs for my development were 25 pages long, covered everything from the color of my house, bushes I could plant, Christmas lights and to when I had to mow my lawn.